


12 Days of Sanvers & Supercorp Christmas

by queercapwriting (queergirlwriting)



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-14 19:07:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 10,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13014246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queergirlwriting/pseuds/queercapwriting
Summary: It’s that time again.I’ve already started my 8 Nights of Danvers Chanukah series for this year, and it’s now time to get into the 12 Days of Christmas, as well. Last year, the story was Sanvers-focused with some hints, if I remember correctly, of Kara and Lena. This year, I’m going full tilt for both couples.Happy holidays and happy reading, loves!





	1. Chapter 1

When she was thirteen, Lena Luthor spent Christmas with Roulette away in boarding school, clutching the new chemistry set Lex had sent her like it would disappear if she put it down, wondering in vain if her mother would deign to call her this year.

When she was thirteen, Kara Zor-El Danvers spent Christmas cuddled on the couch between Eliza and Jeremiah, eating Chinese food and watching a black and white film about a man who didn’t think his life was worth anything until he realized that it was.

When she was thirteen, Alex Danvers spent Christmas at Vicky Donahue’s house after being assured by Eliza and Jeremiah that yes, don’t worry, it’s not being a bad Jew to wear a Santa hat and exchange Christmas gifts with your Christian friends, because aren’t the holidays about family and joy anyway?

When she was thirteen, Maggie Sawyer spent Christmas laughing with her father and cooking with her mother, climbing alongside the mantle to help her little cousins reach their stockings before leading the charge out the door, Superman beanie and thick snow boots galore, to take all her cousins sledding on The Hill before trooping back, wet and exhausted and frozen, to slurp up her father’s famous hot chocolate, each with four marshmallows on top.

It’s been over a decade for all of them, and everything has changed.

Because now, Lena doesn’t just hire people to decorate trees that she never had the chance to decorate with family.

And now, Kara doesn’t have to wonder if her life is worth anything, because she already knows it is.

And now, Alex has a fiancee, not an unacknowledged crush, to snuggle up with under mistletoe that makes her feel excited, not terrified of being herself.

And now, Maggie has only the family she’s created for herself.

And she couldn’t be happier.

Because her family is doing an apartment crawl like so many people do bar crawls.

They’re trudging from one apartment to the other, bedazzling them all with lights and with pine and with candy canes and with already-wrapped gifts that prove that every single one of J’onn’s Earth children is a bit of an overachiever.

They agree to decorate Winn and Kara and Alex’s places first, since Chanukah falls well before Christmas this year. 

Maggie, James, and Lena have their places next.

“You know when I was a kid,” Maggie says as she and James coordinate to tinsel the hell out of Lena’s enormous tree. Alex freezes and her eyes sober, and Maggie kisses her and shakes her head softly. “No, it’s okay. It’s… it’s a good memory. I would tug on my Santa hat and lock myself in my bedroom, every year on Christmas Eve.”

“And you would have a raging party with all the other elves?” James arches an eyebrow, and Maggie mock glares up at him.

“Are you calling me short?”

“Santa’s not necessarily short, and he’s an elf! And you said you were wearing a Santa hat! Kinda like you are now,” he defends himself, tossing the white ball at the bottom of Maggie’s hat up gently.

“Yeah, whatever. You’re lucky this city needs Guardian, Olsen. Anyway. I would lock myself in my room and blast Christmas music, and I’d put this sign on my door that would always say something like ‘Santa’s workshop, keep out,” or ‘Elves at work’ – “

“Told you – “

“Shut it, Olsen. And I’d wrap everyone’s presents. It was the only time my parents didn’t make me turn the volume down on my music.”

“To be fair, Christmas songs usually have a bit of a different vibe than Placebo,” Winn chimes, and Lena shakes her head as she laughs and as Alex awwws.

“Aww, baby, do you want to do that again this year?”

“What?”

“Turn our room into Santa’s workshop? You can, you know, I wouldn’t mind.”

And suddenly James has to take over the tinseling, because Maggie has tears in her eyes and Alex is wrapping her arms around her and she’s bringing her lips down to kiss her all over her face.

“I love you, Danvers,” Maggie whispers, and Kara leans into her own girlfriend warmly.

“I love you too, Sawyer. Forever,” Alex rasps back, and neither of them notice James step back from Lena’s tree to snap a photo that he’ll frame and gift for them later.

As a wedding or holiday gift, though, he has plenty of time to decide.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Danvers Girls Take their Wives Ice Skating

“She said she’s excited, that’s all,” Kara tosses up her hands, shaking her head at the bets her siblings are placing.

“I mean, she’s gotta be great at it. She’s great at everything. And remember when she busted out those mad martial arts skills out of nowhere? I’m not saying this in a bad way, I’m saying it as a testament to her random knowledge: she’s a Luthor. Of course she’ll kick ass at ice skating,” James is placing his bet, and Winn tilts his head in an imitation of his favorite pool shark.

“Okay, yes, yes, all this is true. Your woman is amazing, Kara, no one’s denying that. But there’s gotta be something she’s not good at, right?”

Maggie clinks her glass against Winn’s, but Alex scoffs.

“No way! I’m a perfectionist too, and that doesn’t mean I’m bad at anything.”

“Wow, Danvers.”

“Okay, Alex.”

“Bad at being straight?”

“Rude!”

“Low blow, Schott.”

“Lena!” 

“I’m… bad at being Lena?”

“No, Lena’s – hi baby!” Kara gets up to kiss Lena, as Alex continues to mutter that she is utterly excellent at everything and Maggie nods and kisses her in mock sympathy.

“We were just debating whether you’d be flawless at ice skating,” James passes her the glass of wine they’d already ordered for her, and Lena flushes.

“I suppose you’ll all find out tomorrow,” she murmurs.

And they do. 

They do, because Kara is late – a last-minute report she had to get in under deadline – and Lena shrugs as she effortlessly skates past Winn, desperately clinging to James’s hand, and Alex, somewhat unsteadily trailing behind Maggie.

“I am a Luthor – you think I wasn’t relentlessly trained in essentially everything?” 

She says this with a soft grin as she skates backwards, hands behind her back in the picture of grace and ease.

Until she completely splatters on the ice for no apparent reason at all.

No reason, that is, that’s apparent to anyone else in the Superfam, but Maggie immediately turns to look over Winn’s shoulder – and sure enough, Kara just walked into the rink.

Winn stumbles over to try and help Lena, collapsing instead and bringing James and Alex with him.

“Hey, I’m taller than all of you!” Maggie raises her hands victoriously.

Until, that is, Alex pulls her down on top of her. 

Confused children and tutting parents skate around the pile of laughing adults.

“How long have you guys been down there?” Kara skates over a few minutes later to find her family still grounded on the ice.

“Alex and Maggie seem to like… being… down here… and Winn keeps trying to get up and it keeps… failing,” James offers generously.

“I’ve been taking everyone down with me!” Winn tosses up his arms with red cheeks and a smile. Kara just laughs and scoops him up like he weighs nothing. 

James nudges Maggie and Alex to maybe save some kissing for home as he takes Winn’s hand again, laughing as Alex and Maggie reluctantly help each other up and start skating again.

“Hi baby,” Kara greets, offering her hand to Lena and tugging her up, too, like she weighs nothing. 

And everything she’s ever learned about skating promptly leaves Lena’s mind and evacuates her muscle memory. 

Because Kara’s ease on the ice and the strength of her arms and the warmth in her eyes are making her swoon, and swooning…

Swooning doesn’t work too well on ice skates.

So Lena overbalances. Right back into Kara’s arms.

Kara’s eyes glow, affectionate and gentle and awed.

“Can I guide you around the ice, Ms. Luthor?” she asks with a broad smile, offering Lena her arm.

Which, of course, makes Lena swoon again.

“I…” 

She tries to tell her that she knows how to skate. That hell, she probably knows how to skate much better than Kara. That she can pull a triple axel without a problem. That she’s been trained and trained and overtrained and overworked for this.

But there will be time for that later.

Because right now, Kara mistakes her stammering for embarrassment, for fear and her eyes are so damn warm and her arms are so damn strong.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got you, okay? I won’t let you fall again. Or let Winn yank you down.”

Lena chuckles and lets Kara lead her around the ice.

Lets Kara hold her up and compliment her and pull her into kisses that leave her face red and her lips absolutely breathless.

Lets Kara… love her.

So damn much.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena and Maggie Go Holiday Shopping for their Danvers Girls

“Detective Sawyer,” Maggie answers her work phone distractedly, poring over the files for one of the cold cases she makes a habit of coming back to whenever she has a moment.

“Hey Maggie, it’s Jess.”

Maggie freezes at that. She sighs, takes her glasses off, and rubs her hand over her face.

“Haven’t we both told her that she can just call my cell phone?” she asks with a tilted head and a bemused smile.

“She doesn’t want to bother you.” Maggie can practically hear Jess’s shrug and head shake.

“She’s not a bot – you know what, I’ll tell her myself. Put her through. Thanks, Jess. See you at the bar tonight?”

“You know it.”

Maggie rubs at the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger as instrumental, vaguely holiday-themed wait music comes through the phone. It only takes a moment, though, for Lena’s voice to come through.

“Maggie, hi. I hope I’m not disturbing – “

“Lena, we’ve been through this. You can call my cell. You’re not a bother, okay? Ever. I promise.”

“You have a very high-pressure job, Detective, I want to respect that.”

“So do you, Lena. It’s fine. I’m glad you called. Or, Jess called. Whatever. I’m glad we’re talking. What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping for Kara and Alex together. I’m sure you have a routine to follow, but I… I haven’t had someone to shop for in a long time, and I – “

“What are you doing for lunch, Lena?”

A long pause, and Maggie can practically hear Lena’s wheels turning.

“Going holiday shopping with you?”

Maggie grins and puts her glasses back on. 

“I’ll pick you up around one.”

She brings leftovers from last night to split with Lena, because she knows she forgets to eat.

She brings, too, an extra bus pass because all she brought was her motorcycle today and she’s heard from Kara how much Lena’s coming to like public transit.

“I don’t know where to start,” Lena admits when Maggie brings her to the pop-up holiday festival where she went with James to find the gifts she’d gotten the Superfriends when she and Alex had first started dating.

“Well, you already bought her a company,” Maggie arches an eyebrow, and Lena mock scowls.

“I didn’t buy it for Kara,” she protests.

“Okay, lesbian,” Maggie murmurs under her breath, extending her arm for Lena to take with a shake of her head and a rush of affection for this woman who loves a Danvers woman like she does.

“Oh, but Winn would love this!” Lena’s eyes fly wide suddenly as they pass a toy stand with an old Atari system just waiting to be played.

Maggie chuckles at Lena’s enthusiasm and snaps a quick photo, sending it to the group chat she has with her fiancee, Lena, and Kara.

Luthor’s almost as big a nerd as you, Danvers she types out.

Wait, what are you and Lena doing shopping?

Lena’s brow furrows as her phone keeps dinging, and she checks it while her purchase rings up. 

She smirks at Maggie, arching an eyebrow and biting her lip.

We’ve decided to date each other. What can I say? Bonding over our love of the Danvers sisters is… well, bonding!

Maggie snorts when she sees what Lena wrote, and their phones both immediately chime with responses from their horrified Danvers girls.

Noooo babe don’t leave me!!!!

But can Maggie fly though???

They laugh as they soothe their respective girlfriend and fiancee, assuring them of their unwavering love before slipping their phones away and continuing their stroll through the festival.

“I was thinking about getting a lot of dog toys for Alex,” Maggie confesses as they stroll.

“No! You’re going for it?”

Maggie nods. “We’ve been talking about it a lot lately. I was thinking of taking her to the pound right after the holiday. But you can’t tell Kara.”

Lena scoffs with a confidential smile. “Of course not. God knows I love her, but she can’t keep a secret for anything.”

They lean into each other conspiratorially. “The glasses!!” they both nearly collapse in a giggle fit.

Lena sobers midway through her laughter, her eyes on Maggie’s face.

“How did we get this lucky, hm? You and I?”

Maggie shakes her head and shrugs. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Hey! Look!” Lena tugs Maggie’s hand forward suddenly, and Maggie follows gamely.

“Nice, Luthor,” she grins. “That’s perfect.”

And it is: the most beautiful paint set Maggie’s ever seen, complete with the ability to engrave a personalized message on the gorgeous wooden case.

“What are you gonna write?” Maggie asks, but she knows Lena won’t tell her. 

They’re too alike for that.

Instead, Maggie wanders around while Lena makes her purchase, finding a gorgeous antique camera for James and the most adorable set of puppy toys and matching sweatshirts featuring a cartoon husky, with text that says “our first child together.”

“She’ll love it,” Lena says over Maggie’s shoulder when she finds her again, and Maggie grins back, because damn, she hopes so.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Supercorp and Mistletoe

It took her only a little while to realize how much Lena Luthor loves Christmas.

She acted like she didn’t.

She acted like spending holidays, including Christmas, alone at her desk with red wine, was casual, no big deal, her preference.

Kara didn’t need x-ray vision to see right through that.

So when they move in together, Kara brings the menorah Eliza had given her when she went to college, but she also makes a lot of purchases.

Like a massive Christmas tree, a slew of tinsel and lights, and boxes and boxes and boxes worth of ornaments.

Lena can barely step through the door after Kara snuck it all home in the middle of the day in the beginning of December.

“Kara?” she calls from the doorway, carefully stepping her way over a spilled box of ornament hooks and empty candy cane boxes. “What is all this?”

Kara pops up from behind a set of boxes like a jack-in-the-box, eyes bright, arms up, and tinsel slung around her shoulders.

“It’s Christmas!” she exclaims, and Lena puts her purse down and makes her way toward her fiancee.

“Yes darling, I can see that – “

“Do you like it?”

Lena doesn’t have to look around at the rest of the room.

All she has to do is look down into Kara’s eager eyes.

“I love it.”

Kara squeals with excitement and dislodges herself from the pile of decorations she’d been in.

“I thought we could decorate our new home together, and then if you want to – but we don’t have to, only if you want to – we could have a holiday-themed housewarming!”

And those eyes, that smile? The way Kara’s hands settle on her waist just so, the way there are strays pieces of tinsel in her hair that make her look even more like the angel she always seems to Lena?

Of course she says yes.

Of course she says yes, so they spend the next few hours with Lena in Kara’s old college sweatshirt and her glasses, sorting through ornaments and nearly knocking over their new tree with the enthusiasm of their making out.

Kara flies to string the lights from the highest bits of the ceiling, and Lena climbs their step stool to arrange candy canes toward the top of their tree.

Lena laughs when Kara bounces around singing All I Want for Christmas is You to her, and Kara pins her to the wall and kisses her soundly after she lip syncs the next verse right back, just as enthusiastically.

But Kara stops kissing her abruptly, her eyes wide and her face suddenly pale.

“Darling, what is it? Did I hurt you? I – “

“No, nothing’s wrong, just – I forgot the most important thing!”

“What’s the – “

“Mistletoe!!! Wait, Lena, don’t go anywhere – I’ll be right back!”

And though it’s a balmy 65 degrees in National City, Kara comes back with snow in her hair.

“Where did you – “

“No one’s selling it here, so I had to go to the source!” Kara explains breathlessly, but her smile is triumphant as she superspeeds around their new home, hanging mistletoe from the bathroom door, above the kitchen island, above their couch, and even above their bed.

“Darling…” Lena starts, tilting her head with her hands on her hips, biting her lip with narrowed, amused eyes.

“It’s part of the season!” Kara hands one final sprig of mistletoe smack in the middle of their living room.

“Darling, you know you don’t need mistletoe to kiss me, don’t you? You’re my fiancee. You can always just… ask.”

She bites her lip again as she steps toward Kara, slow, eyes glistening, tongue poking out to wet her lips.

Kara’s mouth runs dry and she adjusts her glasses with a gulp.

“I… it… You’re really pretty.” 

Lena smirks as she steps into Kara’s space, and Kara points one finger joyously upward.

“Mistletoe,” she whispers, asking with her eyes if she can kiss the woman she loves over, and over, and over again.

“Mistletoe,” Lena confirms as answer, bringing her lips to meet Kara’s with a grateful, peaceful sigh.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Office Holiday Party, Supercorp Style (ft. Vasquez, Pam from HR, Jess the secretary, and Jessy the Delivery Guy)

Jess the secretary and Pam from HR have been placing bets with Jessy the Delivery Guy for months.

Hell, even Jessy the Delivery Guy’s boyfriend’s been pitching into the pot.

Because Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor are totally dating.

They just… don’t… know it? Yet?

So when L-Corp and CatCo team up under Lena’s leadership to throw the biggest holiday party National City has ever seen, everyone – including Kara’s own sister and sister-in-law – are determined to help Kara and Lena realize that they’re wild for each other.

“I can mistletoe the hell out of the place,” Susan Vasquez offers, and Jess waves her hand just this side of dismissively. 

“Ms. Luthor doesn’t want mistletoe – says it’ll create too many potential non-consensual situations.”

“See, this is why she’s so good for your sister,” Maggie grins, and Alex kisses her wife’s knuckles with a blush.

“Okay, fair. How then?” Vasquez wants to know.

“We can always go with the classic ‘message in M&Ms on the pizza,’“ Jessy offers.

“Yeah, but what would it say? ‘Dear Kara, you don’t seem to realize we’re dating so I thought I’d let you know with food? Love, Lena Luthor, the woman who’s desperately in love with both you and your superhero alter ego?’“

There’s a silence.

Alex and Maggie exchange glances, and Jessy and Jess both stare at Pam.

“You know what, that might work,” Alex finally says, holding her hand out for Pam to slap. “Nice job.”

“Speaking of jobs,” a low voice makes them all jump. “Agent Danvers, aren’t you supposed to be in the command center?”

Alex stumbles in her haste to stand. “Yeah, J’onn, sorry, we were just – “

“You know, you’re discussing two exceedingly intelligent, exceedingly capable women. I’m sure if you simply talk to them – “

“J’onn, have you ever tried talking to Kara about Lena? It’s like trying to talk to the older Danvers about Sawyer here – “

“Hey!”

“You… you do stammer and blush a lot, babe. It gets pretty incoherent. I mean, adorable, but… you know. Also incoherent.”

“You’re sleeping on the couch tonight.”

“Well then at least I get the TV.”

“Good god, they’ve all reverted to school children,” J’onn just turns and walks out as Jessy, Pam, and Jess all try – and fail – not to laugh hysterically at Alex and Maggie’s antics.

In the end, they can’t agree on a plan to make sure Kara and Lena figure it out by the time the office holiday party rolls around.

So, they wind up implementing all of them.

Vasquez tries tripping Kara – “relax, Danvers, it won’t hurt your sister”; “it’s not my sister I’m worried about, it’s your shin” – into Lena’s arms.

Kara just adjusts her glasses and keeps her balance and comforts Vasquez with wide eyes, asking – of course – if her leg is alright.

Jessy tries delivering M&M pizza, but Lena puts an easy arm around his shoulder and reminds him that no, no, he should just relax tonight, he shouldn’t work at all.

Pam from HR comes prepared with paperwork for Kara to sign regarding a relationship with someone who works so closely with the DEO, but it’s Kara, this time, that ever so sweetly reminds Pam that she works too hard, and really, she should just relax and have a good time tonight.

Jess the secretary tries chatting Lena up about how beautiful Kara looks in that gorgeous green dress, but Lena just laughs and compliments Kara too, because that’s what friends do, isn’t it?

Maggie had planned something nebulous with a flash grenade, but Alex proves to be quite distracting in the short black dress she put on for the occasion, and the two spend most of their evening entangled together in Lena’s office. On Lena’s office couch. On Lena’s office coffee table. On Lena’s desk.

It’s not until the next morning that they get the full story.

The full story that led to Kara and Lena bursting in on them, Lena’s lips intently kissing Kara’s, her hands eagerly tracing the bare skin of Kara’s back.

“Alex!” Kara had shrieked, covering her eyes at the sight of her sister in nothing but lacy black lingerie, her dress a mess on the floor.

But, even as Maggie helps Alex get dressed at near super speed, she has another question on her mind.

“How did… this happen?” she gestures between Lena and Kara, a vague grin on her face as she brings some semblance of respectability back to her disarrayed hair.

Neither Lena nor Kara answer, both of them blushing and leaning into each other and clearly needing Alex and Maggie to give them the room.

When they’re talking about it the next morning – “I haven’t heard from Kara all night!”; “You know what that means, Danvers!” – J’onn just shrugs.

“If you must know, Agent Danvers, I simply suggested to your sister that women like Lena – who see her for exactly who she is, and who are wonderful and brilliant and kind in their own right – are all too rare to come by. And that life is too short to let office holiday parties go by without telling the ones we love how we feel.”

Maggie chokes on her coffee and Alex splutters. “You got my sister…” She leans in and she whispers like she’s twelve and uttering her first swear word. “Laid?”

J’onn flinches slightly, but a smile tugs at his lips. “I prefer not to think of it that way, Agent Danvers. But I would like to ask that you tell your various co-conspirators that I won the bet as to who could get them to admit their feelings to each other. And I expect full payment, including that greatest hits 90s pop caseette you seemed to have circulating the betting pool. Merry Christmas, indeed.”

And as he walks away from a stammering Alex and a slack-jawed Maggie, he doesn’t even try to hide his smile.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holiday Depression (Sanvers hurt/comfort)

Maggie talks about Christmas like she loves it.

She talks about it like she loves it, but as the season actually rolls around, she calls up that shell she keeps around herself.

She calls it up and she fortifies it with late nights at the precinct and sad eyes at Christmas carols.

It makes Alex tilt her head and pause and squint, because she’s in love with this woman, but sometimes, she can’t figure her out.

“I thought you loved Christmas,” she says one morning, when Maggie irritably clicked off the TV for playing one too many Christmas-themed advertisements.

“I can love something that makes me miserable. I’m a complex person, Danvers,” Maggie grumps, and Alex chuckles and shakes her head.

“I know you are, babe. I just… you seem… I want to help you feel better.”

Their eyes lock and Alex’s stomach sinks as she watches Maggie panic, Alex’s concerns bouncing off of Maggie’s walls and being sent away, away, away.

“It’s whatever, Danvers, I’m fine. Or, I will be, as long as I get to the precinct on time.” She pulls Alex in for a quick kiss that tastes like routine. Alex’s stomach sinks even lower. “See you tonight.”

And with that, Maggie’s gone.

That night, it’s Alex who’s home late, and Maggie is sprawled in bed. But her eyes are open, staring unblinkingly at the ceiling. Her eyes are open, and there are dried tear tracks still visible on the side of her face.

“Mags?” Alex asks tentatively as she kicks off her boots, her eyes trained on her fiancee.

“Hey Danvers. Sorry, I’m just tired. You’re home late.”

“I texted to ask if you wanted me to bring you dinner.”

Maggie doesn’t move. 

“I didn’t get it.”

Alex glances at the bedside table. Maggie’s phone is right there, face down. Alex nods and gulps and sighs quietly before stripping out of her jeans and flannel, until she’s in nothing but her tank top and boy shorts and socks. She pads over to the bed – their bed – and crawls in beside Maggie.

Maggie flinches away from her tentative touch. “You’re cold,” she offers by way of explanation, still finding the ceiling more interesting than her half naked fiancee.

“And you’re depressed,” Alex offers, and there’s no judgment, no anger, no resentment in her voice. Just soft facts and even softer adoration.

Maggie’s eyes snap over to meet Alex’s briefly. But still, her body doesn’t move.

“I told you, Danvers. It’s whatever.”

“Maggie,” Alex tries again, and Maggie sighs slowly and closes her eyes like she’s counting to ten in her head.

“It’s stupid, okay?”

“Maggie, your feelings are never stupid. I love you, babe, you’re not stupid, you’re – “

“It’s the holidays, Danvers. It’s Christmas, for crying out loud. Do you know how much I used to love Christmas? How much I’m still supposed to love Christmas? I run a holiday program at the queer youth shelter, I… hell, I started the damn program! And it’s not… it’s not because I miss my family, I… I have family here. You. Kara. The boys. It’s all I need. You’re all I need. So it’s stupid, and I shouldn’t… I hate bringing everyone down, bringing you down. I should just… get over it and be happy already. That’s what the season’s about, right? Being happy, and all grateful, for what we have? Well, I have the most beautiful, most brilliant woman in the multiverse, wanting to marry me for some reason, and our whole chosen family, and a roof over my head and a healthy relationship and a good job and – “

“Maggie. Babe. None of those things mean you’re not allowed to be depressed. Hell, sometimes those things make us depressed.”

“But that’s stupid – “

“It’s not stupid. It’s depression logic. It’s like… it’s like being miserable at an amusement park. And it just keeps getting worse because everyone else is acting so happy and it makes you feel even more like a… like a freak, or something. Even more wrong. But there’s no switch you can flip, Maggie. You know that. And it’s okay if the holidays make you depressed. It’s okay if you don’t like them anymore. And, it’s okay if you want to like them, but it’s hard. You know why it’s okay?”

“Because you’re just being nice to me – “

“No. Because of the thing you always say to me. It’s real. You’re real. And you deserve all the support and love in the world.”

“That’s not exactly what I – “

“Maggie.”

“Alex.”

“Work with me here.”

Their eyes lock and Maggie starts to smile for the first time since… well, for a long time.

“Is that an order, Danvers?” she flirts, and Alex smiles and shakes her head.

“And you call me a nerd.”

“You are one.”

“Well, you are two. Too. Get it?”

“See? Nerd.”

“Maggie?”

“Yeah, babe?”

“Can I hold you? Would you like it if I held you?”

A long pause. Eyes communicating love and trust and faith and need.

“Yeah. Yeah, I really would.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taking Lena Sledding (Supercorp College AU)

The first time Lucy showed Alex how to do it, she was panicked and nervous and shaking, because what if they got caught and what if the school called their parents and what if – 

“It’s not high school anymore, Danvers, they wouldn’t call our parents. And anyway, it’s a time-honored tradition here. As long as you return the trays to the cafeteria, no one gets in trouble for it.”

So she went, and screamed, because god, did she love it.

And when Maggie Sawyer transferred to their school, it was the first winter date idea Alex had for them. 

Sledding down Tray Hill in the dead of night, with only the dim lights of campus lampposts combined with starlight to guide their way.

And when Kara came to college, too, it was the first winter thing they did together.

Naturally, then, when Kara started giving that wide eyed look to Lena Luthor in all the moments she thought she wouldn’t notice – and in some moments where she hoped she would – Alex slung an arm around her little sister’s shoulder and told her to invite Lena sledding with her that night.

Kara shook her head, worrying at her bottom lip and adjusting her glasses nervously.

“She’s always studying. You know how her mother is.”

Alex tossed her hands back behind her. “And you know how our mom is. I’m always studying. Somehow, I make time to go down that hill every year. It’s good for you. Relieves stress and all that.” She leaned into her little sister with a wicked grin in her eyes. “Plus it’s romantic.”

Kara scoffed and turned away. “We’re just friends.”

Alex chuckled and tugged down on the long, long ears of Kara’s penguin hat that doubled as a scarf and, all the way at the bottom, mittens. “Okay, sis.”

Kara scowled and readjusted herself with as much dignity as she could muster while wearing a winter penguin hat-scarf-mittens, but when her eyes fell on Lena – bent over her books, glasses all askew on her face, murmuring something to herself as she studied, feet curled under herself, Kara’s sweatshirt snug around her shoulders – she knew her big sister was right.

A romantic winter’s night with Lena would be… perfect.

“Lena?” she approached, trying not to grin as Alex flashed her a thumbs up from where she’d retreated, into Maggie’s lap, across the library lounge. She waited for Lena to look up without saying anything else, knowing full well that Lena had heard her and was waiting to respond until she’d worked through whatever question she was going through in her head.

Her lips kept moving silently to herself, and Kara couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to kiss them.

“Sorry, Kar,” Lena finally turned her face up to Kara, a smile already there, simply at her presence. Kara’s heart leaped at the sight of it.

“How’s the studying?” Kara asked, sitting next to her and gulping when Lena’s body automatically shifted to be closer to hers.

Lena shrugged with one shoulder as she lifted her other arm, slow and into a full stretch, above her head with a gigantic yawn.

“Could be better, could be worse,” she let her arm drop suddenly and put her elbow on the table, cupping her chin in her palm and leaning across her books to look closer at Kara. “You’re nervous about something.”

Kara adjusted her glasses and shook her head. “What? No! I’m not – no. Why would you – “

“Oh, darling, and now you’re just confirming it,” Lena smiled, reaching out a hand to brush her thumb against Kara’s cheek for no reason other than to touch her. A stirring of hope fluttered through Kara’s stomach.

“Well, maybe. I… I was thinking, if you’re okay with taking a break from your studying… you don’t have to, obviously, but… you know how a bunch of students go sledding on Tray Hill? I… I was wondering if you would want to… go with me. Like…” 

She glanced across the library at Alex and Maggie, who both tossed her a thumbs up and nodded enthusiastically, Alex somehow, now, with a Santa hat plastered on her head.

She took a deep, deep breath.

“Like a date. With me.” And now that she said it, she found she couldn’t stop. “It’s where Alex took Maggie on their first really romantic date, and I don’t mean to say that I’m recycling date ideas, because you deserve only fresh and new date ideas. Not that I’m assuming you want to date me at all, also, I just – “

“Kara.”

A long silence.

“Yes, Lena?”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“Yes. To sledding. To dating you. Right now.”

Kara let out a squeal that had what felt like the entire student body turning to glare at her. Except Alex and Maggie, of course, who were not-so-silently high-fiving and laughing with relief. 

Lena took it in stride, with eyes only for Kara. She took her hand and stood, flexing her feet – asleep from having been tucked under her for so long – for a minute before interlacing her fingers with Kara and strolling casually over to Alex and Maggie.

“Watch my books for me, please? I’m going on a date with your sister,” she smiled, and leaned down to swipe the Santa hat off Alex’s head as an afterthought, bringing it down on her own head instead.

“Don’t stay out too late, kids,” Maggie grinned broadly after them, chuckling at Kara’s wide eyes and excited skip.

Fifteen minutes later, the two were bundled up and red-faced from the bite of the wind, Lena in Alex’s Santa hat and Kara in her penguin hat, Kara with a single cafeteria tray under her arm as they held hands, trudging through the snow, up the hill, both relieved at the lack of other students out and about on this frozen, frozen night.

“It’s a little high,” Lena gulped as they got to the top of the hill, gazing down the slope at pathways in the snow already established by other students on other nights.

“We don’t have to – “ 

“I know you won’t let me get hurt,” Lena bit her lip, and Kara gulped and nearly swooned at their sheer proximity, at the look in Lena’s eyes that confirmed that no, no, no, she didn’t just want to be friends.

“Never,” Kara promised.

“So, how does one sled on a… dinner tray?” Lena grimaced bemusedly. “Seems a little small and hard to steer.”

Kara just grinned. “That’s the funnest part! Oh, but um…” She bit her lip, this time, worry starting to creep into her face. “I thought I’d steer, if you want, since I’ve done it before. Which means you’d sit behind me, and um… to get the most speed, you…”

Lena watched her stumble and stammer for words with a tilted head and a soft smile. “I could think of worse things to do than wrapping my legs around your hips,” she whispered, tentative suggestion and a glimmer of promise thickening her words.

Kara’s eyes fluttered down to Lena’s lips, and Lena’s made the same journey across Kara’s face.

When they both realized, they blushed and giggled and turned their attention back to their surroundings.

“Good then. Okay. So…” Kara set the tray down in front of her, bracing it with her foot before settling herself on it and waiting for Lena to sit behind her.

The closeness of their bodies, the warmth of Lena’s chest pressing against her back – the feel of Lena’s legs wrapped around her – made Kara’s heart skip several long beats.

Lena pressed a kiss to the side of her cheek, and if her face wasn’t so red from the cold already, Kara would have blushed.

“Ready?” she asked, and it was so many questions rolled into one.

“With you? Always,” Lena answered, and it was so many answers rolled into one.

Lena’s screams of how amazing this felt and how she wanted to do it again, and again, and again, lit up Kara’s soul and made her feel like they were flying rather than sledding, soaring rather than sinking.

The way Lena’s arms and legs both wrapped around her, trusting her, made Kara brave. Made her steady. Made her smile like she’d never smiled before.

And when Lena wanted to take the lead – because she wasn’t a Luthor for nothing – Kara discovered that surrendering control could be… magnificent. Could be brilliant. And Lena, of course, steered their makeshift sled with precision, always managing to find the fastest paths, the most exciting journeys.

“This was amazing,” Lena panted when they get to the bottom of the hill, collapsed in a pile of snow and sweat and bodies trembling from excitement. 

“Do you want to go back to my dorm? I can make you hot chocolate,” Kara offered, her voice small now, her eyes wide.

“A beautiful end to a beautiful date,” Lena bit her lip before leaning forward to kiss her softly, and her lips were the only source of warmth in the world, and it was absolutely perfect.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holiday Baking, Superfam Style

When Kara walks in, her sister’s black shirt is all but covered in flour, and her girlfriend’s hands are white with the soft powdery stuff.

They both freeze as they turn to the door, to Kara’s confused expression, Lena with a wide-eyed, mock-guilty look on her face, Alex with a narrow-eyed, mock-angry look on her face.

“Your girlfriend is a menace, Kara. And no, before you both say anything, it’s not because you’re a Luthor,” Alex huffs, trying to wipe flour off her shirt but only succeeding in spreading it everywhere. Lena barely chokes down a laugh.

Maggie emerges from the bedroom with a fresh t-shirt in hand and a smirk on her face.

“I wouldn’t quite call her a menace, Danvers; she’s getting you to strip, so I’d say it can’t be all bad.”

She tosses the t-shirt at Alex, who shrugs and grins and tugs the flour-stained shirt above her head while Maggie licks her lips, Lena giggles, and Kara rolls her eyes.

“What actually happened in here?” she asks, a smile tugging at her lips as she crosses the room to kiss Lena’s mouth.

“Your sister spritzed me with water. So I tossed some flour on her. And it sort of…”

“It escalated quickly,” Maggie supplies with a grin. “The boys fled, but they should be back any – “

As if on cue, the door swings open again. “Is it safe? Who won?” Winn calls over boxes and boxes of pizza.

“I thought we were all baking together!” Lena objects with a laugh as she pads over to help Winn.

“Baking cookies, not baking pizzas. That’s… too advanced,” James smirks, holding up several styrofoam containers and inclining them towards Kara in a toast. “We brought potstickers, too, Kara.”

She flies over and snatches the boxes from him with a moan of delight, and he laughs as she cracks one open and immediately downs a piping hot potsticker.

“Are we abandoning the baking, then?” Maggie tosses up her hands as everyone files out of the kitchen to surround the pizza boxes Winn and Lena are opening on the table.

“Oh come on, babe, you had to guess this would happen. Aren’t you supposed to detect things?” Alex winks at her through a mouthful of pizza.

Maggie chuckles and leans over the kitchen island to kiss her fiancee. “You taste good,” she tells her, and Alex blushes, delighted, before collapsing onto the couch next to her sister, tossing both her legs up on Kara’s lap, letting her feet spill onto Lena’s lap, too.

“That okay?” she confirms, and Lena just smiles as James passes her a slice of pizza. 

“Having a sister? Yeah, I’d say so,” she says, in that way Lena has of making everyone’s heart break a little with the casual air she has about her own tragedies and traumas.

Kara wraps her arm around her shoulder and Alex sits up straighter to touch her hand.

“Well, you’ve got sisters and brothers and your own personal superhero girlfriend here, Luthor,” Maggie calls from the kitchen as she cranks up the Christmas music.

When the notes reach the Danvers girls’ ears, they turn to each other with wide eyes and matching smiles.

“What?” Lena asks, and James and Winn laugh simultaneously.

“Oh no,” James grins.

“It’s happening,” Winn warns.

“What?” Lena asks again, turning to Maggie this time, but before Maggie has the chance to answer, Kara and Alex have both jumped up from the couch, grabbing the nearest beer bottles and holding them to their lips.

“Christmas karaoke!” they announce in unison, and Lena laughs as the girls harmonize Mariah Carey in a mockery of singing well. She laughs even harder than she might normally, because she knows both of them – both of her and Maggie’s Danvers girls – can sing beautifully.

They’re just… choosing not to, at the moment.

Which makes this all the more special.

All the more intimate.

And she’s part of it.

Winn notices the tears shining in her eyes first, and he puts his hand on her knee and squeezes gently with warm eyes and a smile.

James notices next, and he gives her a small hug. “Welcome to the family,” he whispers before both of them descend into laughter again, because Winn is now jumping up and joining Alex and Kara in a wild rendition of Rockin Around the Christmas Tree.

Maggie – busy with singing along absently while she laughs, while she kneads the sugar cookie dough lightly – notices when Lena comes to stand next to her, to get herself another glass of wine.

“You need any help?” she asks, but her voice is rich with laughter and something that feels like finding home.

“Do you?” Maggie counters, her eyes soft and her head tilted.

Lena’s brow furrows. “What do you mean?”

Maggie shrugs as she pats the counter down with flour and starts to roll out the dough. “Nothing, just… it’s hard. To not have a real family for so long and then suddenly to have… all this. It’s amazing, but it… it can be hard. It still is, for me, sometimes. Hell, all the time. You need anything?”

Lena doesn’t answer as they both watch Alex and Kara and Winn – James photographing on his phone next to them all, trying to avoid their flailing arms, wild gestures to accompany wilder notes and emotions – in their frivolity.

“They’ve all saved the world more times than anyone can count. And they’ve all suffered losses most people can’t begin to imagine.”

Maggie nods quietly as she presses a star-shaped cookie cutter into the dough, absently popping a small bit of dough into her mouth and offering Lena some as she does so. 

“So have you,” Maggie reminds her.

“And you.”

Maggie shrugs, and Lena continues. “And here they are, dancing in their living room just because… just because the boys brought pizza and you put on music, and…”

“And it’s amazing, isn’t it? How people can hold so much contrast inside of them, huh?” 

“Right,” Lena says, her eyes on the Danvers girl that she’s fallen madly in love with.

“We really are the lucky ones, aren’t we?” Maggie asks as Alex pulls James’s phone out of his hands and slips it into her back pocket, taking his hands into her own and bringing him, both laughing, into their dancing.

“We are,” Lena agrees with a smile, popping some more cookie dough into her mouth and cherishing the taste of holiday with family on her tongue.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> boldlyshamelessfun asked:
> 
> Hi :) Erm would you do a Christmas drib with Maggie, Alex, and a puppy?

They’ve talked and they’ve talked and they’ve talked about it. 

About getting a puppy – a rescue puppy, of course – and how they would divide up puppy care tasks, and how they would pay for pet insurance and what their pup parenting philosophies are, and on and on and on.

They’ve talked and they’ve talked and they’ve talked, and now, Maggie has front-loaded Alex’s holiday gifts with chew toys and a dog bowl and a little puppy Chanukah sweater.

And Alex – who can figure out how to fly an alien spaceship while her head feels like it’s exploding – doesn’t get it.

“What’s all this for?” she asks, and Maggie tilts her head, trying to figure out if she’s serious; this woman sitting cross-legged on the floor in her old college sweater, a pair of snowflake pajama pants, and glasses, surrounded by wrapping paper and dog toys, utterly unable to piece together what Maggie is trying to tell her.

And Maggie loves her all the more for it.

“I uh… wait right here,” she leans over as she stands up to kiss Alex’s confused lips, biting her own as she heads to the door.

“Come in, Kara!” she calls, and the door bursts open.

But Kara isn’t the one Alex gasps and can’t stop staring at.

It’s the little husky that dashes into the apartment, all wide eyes and fluff.

“Maggie,” Alex whispers, tears in her throat as she automatically extends her hand, keeping it still, for the puppy to approach, to sniff.

Kara snaps photos with her phone as the puppy determines whether Alex is a human she’d like to get to know.

Apparently, she is.

Because the pup reaches out a tentative tongue and lets it run across Alex’s knuckles.

A tear drops from Alex’s face to her pajama pants, but she doesn’t seem to notice as Maggie crouches behind her, kissing the sides of her face and holding her tight.

“I thought we could name her Gertrude,” she says with gravel in her own voice, and Alex trembles for a moment in her arms, both of them remembering when she held on…

“It’s perfect. She’s perfect,” Alex whispers, as she hovers her hand above Gertrude’s head, waiting for Gertrude to grant permission for this unknown human to pet her.

As answer, Gertrude pushes her head up into Alex’s trembling hand, and Alex gasps at her softness, her boldness, her happiness.

“She likes getting chin rubs,” Maggie tells her, and sure enough, the pup comes even closer to Alex when she switches to rubbing her little chin.

“I think I’m in love,” Alex scoots closer to Gertrude, and Maggie and Kara exchange a victorious glance.

And the next Christmas – when Gertrude isn’t quite so tiny and Alex isn’t quite so shocked at the existence of the little family she and Maggie have created – Gertrude falls in love again, too – with the snow.

They take her to the mountains – J’onn required both of them to get away for a little while, and the holidays seemed like as good a time as any – and when she leaps into the white powerdy stuff, it’s like she grew up in it.

She wears a holiday sweater that matches Alex’s as she streaks through banks of snow, knocking into Maggie’s stomach until both of them go tumbling, pup and human together, Gertrude barking happily and Maggie laughing as they race to see who can get the tennis ball Alex has tossed first.

Gertrude wins.

Maggie swears it’s only because she let her.

Alex laughs and rubs her face against Gertrude’s, and kisses Maggie soundly, their lips the only warm parts of their bodies.

Gertrude jumps on their legs while they kiss, insistently reminding them that they have a tennis ball to throw, that she has mounds of snow to run through to get it. 

They laugh as they disentangle from each other, because their child needs them.

And when they’ve collapsed by the fire late that night – Gertrude with her head on Alex’s stomach, and Maggie with her head on Alex’s thigh – they know that this is what completion feels like.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Very Hogwarts Christmas

Lena Luthor and Maggie Sawyer are the only ones without family to go home to for the holidays this year.

Lena, because Lex is off researching ancient magic somewhere in Eastern Europe and Christmas with just Lilian will be… no.

Maggie, because she hasn’t spoken to her parents since she asked Alex to the Yule Ball last year, and she tried to share her happiness with them when Alex said yes.

Winn normally would stay at Hogwarts for the holidays, too, but this year James is taking him home to meet his mother.

He invited the girls, too, but the Danvers sisters told him it was alright; they’d stay.

They’d stay, because if their girlfriends couldn’t be with their families, the four of them would just have to make their own.

Which was how a Hufflepuff, a Gryffindor, a Ravenclaw, and a Slytherin wound up the only four students in the castle after everyone else went home for the holidays.

Maggie didn’t want to stay alone in Hufflepuff Basement all alone; and Alex wasn’t too keen on the idea of sleeping alone in the Slytherin Dungeon.

Kara didn’t want to be alone in Gryffindor Tower, and Lena always thought Ravenclaw Tower ran too cold to stay in without others’ body heat.

It was Alex that they all nudged with their elbows to talk to Professor J’onzz after the holiday Feast.

“Um, Headmaster?” Alex asked just as he was leaving the Great Hall. He turned to look down at her – at her and her girlfriend and her sister and her sister’s girlfriend, all from different Houses, different years, and he wondered what he did to get lucky enough to have such powerful examples of inter-House love in his school – and Alex wondered vaguely if he already knew what she was going to ask.

“Ms. Danvers?” he greeted, an almost imperceptible smile on his lips. Almost.

“Sir, we’re all here for the holidays, and… and we’re obviously all from different Houses, but we… we were wondering if… could we sleep together?”

Maggie and Lena choked, and Kara adjusted her glasses with a small groan.

Alex reddened intensely.

“I mean, in the same – I mean, so we don’t have to be alone in our – I didn’t mean – I’m sorry, sir, I – “

“It’s alright, Ms. Danvers, I’m reasonably certain I know what you meant. Or at least, I’m going to choose to focus on the platonic relationship between yourself and your sister and between Ms. Luthor and Ms. Sawyer when I grant your request.”

“Grant my… you mean, we can?”

Professor J’onzz nods with something sparkling in his eyes.

“You’ll all sleep in the Great Hall, where the ghosts can keep… a friendly eye on you.” His eyes were definitely sparkling now, and Alex’s blush deepened even as she smiled happily.

“Thank you, sir!” she bounced on the balls of her feet before slipping back into her cooler than ice Slytherin persona that everyone in the room saw right through anyway.

In an instant, Professor J’onzz had flicked his wand, sweeping the House tables aside and replacing them with four massive beds, complete with Hogwarts sheets and nightstands with goblets full of pumpkin juice. 

And so they spent their evening pushing their beds together and cuddling and laughing and trying – and failing – not to spill pumpkin juice onto the blankets and onto each other.

The castle itself seemed to resonate with their emotions, the stars above the Great Hall twinkling particularly brightly the harder they laughed, the closer they cuddled.

The closer Alex held Maggie when she thought about her family; the closer Kara held Lena when she thought about hers.

The woke the next morning to the smell of Christmas brunch and crisp snowfall, and by the time they digested their pancakes and hot chocolates and cookies, the grounds were covered in feet and feet of snow.

Professor J’onzz watched from the entrance of the Astronomy Tower as the girls shrieked and spun each other around and laughed and kissed and interrupted each other’s kisses with well-timed snowballs.

Sometimes it was the sisters versus the girlfriends; others, it was the couples against each other; and others, it was every girl for herself, defending her House’s honor and trying to get the most laughs out of the others.

He’d never seen such joy on the grounds during the holidays; he’d never felt such joy on the grounds during the holidays.

It filled the castle and it filled his heart, just as it seemed to fill each other theirs.

“Happy Christmas, girls,” he toasted them all at dinner that night, and the brightness in their eyes was more than enough to make his holiday perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is cross-posted with my Sanvers at Hogwarts series, because Hogwarts lol


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snowball Fight AU (Sanvers first meeting fluff)

She doesn’t usually do this.

Run around outside, shriek in excitement like she’s still a child.

She’s a soldier now, and a doctor, and she’s damn good at being both of those very adult, very grown-up things.

But it hasn’t snowed in National City in years, and Winn had smacked her in the face with a surprisingly well-aimed snowball, so it all sort of… went from there.

So now, Kara is on her side – mostly – and the boys are taking cover, Winn making snowballs as fast as he can and James chucking them at the Danvers girls.

All four of them are flitting through the trees at the park, sliding over icy patches and shoving each other in the fluffier banks of snow, faces red from the cold and from exertion.

Alex is laughing like she hasn’t laughed in years, and she’s got a clear shot at Winn, and she’s rearing her arm back to throw, and Kara is shouting something at her, and James is shouting something at her, but her ears are buzzing with joy, with adrenaline, so she doesn’t hear them, and she doesn’t stop.

And her snowball smacks some random woman right in the face.

Some random woman who is… god.

Who is the most beautiful woman Alex has ever seen.

Even with an exploded snowball dripping down her face, her hair.

God, her hair.

“I’m so sorry,” Alex sprints forward, breathless and suddenly pale and shaking. “We were just – I wasn’t trying to hit you, I – “

“She was aiming at me, I’m sorry – “ Winn joins them.

“Are you okay?” Alex stammers, holding out her hands, wanting to help, but not knowing if this woman will be okay with the touch of a stranger. Particularly the touch of a stranger who just launched a snowball into her face.

“No, it’s fine, I’m fine, I just – “

And the woman turns, finally, to fully look at Alex, the snow finally melting enough from the warmth of her face to blink it out of her eyes.

The woman stops talking, and Alex stops breathing, and James, Winn, and Kara exchange excited glances that they think are extremely subtle.

“I’m Maggie,” the woman changes topic, extending her gloved hand like Alex hadn’t just hit her in the face with an accidental snowball. “Maggie Sawyer. And you… you have a great arm.”

Alex flushes and squirms. “Well, I mean, I kind of work out,” she splutters, and Winn snorts before James can stop him, but Maggie looks utterly unperturbed.

“I bet you do,” she grins, her eyes traveling up and down Alex’s body once. “And do you have a name?”

“Yeah!” Alex answers before realizing the question underneath the question. “Oh, it’s Alex. Alex Danvers. I… I’m really sorry. About the snowball. I don’t know what got into all of us, it just… it never snows here, and I guess we got carried away, I was stupid, I – “

“No, stop, it’s cute. In Nebraska, they’re too used to snow, and no one gets excited about it anymore, so your response… it’s refreshing.” She gestures to the bits of snow and ice still clinging to her hair. “Literally,” she chuckles, and Alex squirms again.

“I’m so sorry – “

“Really, like I said, it’s fine – “

“Can I buy you a coffee? Or a hot chocolate? Or… or dinner or something? Make up for it?”

James slowly, silently, yanks Kara and Winn away before they can comment, before they can giggle, before they can whoop and cheer Alex on.

“I… wow, okay. Yeah. Yes, I mean… you don’t have to, I don’t want you to feel obligated. Because it’s fine, really, no harm done, so I mean, yes, unless you feel like you have to – “

“I want you. To. To. To. I want to.”

Maggie’s face freezes between a laugh and a blush, and she bites her lip against the cold. 

“Well, I don’t… I don’t want to interrupt your fun. You should keep playing, but I…” She takes her glove off with her teeth and unearths her phone from deep inside her oversized coat pocket. “If you wanna give me your number, I’ll call you. If you want.”

Alex does the same with her gloves, reaching under her own coat to wipe her hands dry on her inside sweater. Maggie watches with a tilted head and slightly parted lips as Alex puts in her name and number.

Maggie smirks as she takes the phone back. “’Alex Who Hit You in the Face with a Snowball,’ huh? One helluva contact name.”

“Well, maybe after I take you to dinner I can get a new subtitle.”

“I bet you can,” Maggie tells her, her voice low and her eyes sparkling. “Well, Alex, it was… really great meeting you. Have an awesome time, okay? And I’ll hopefully see you soon.”

“Thank you. Yes. Yeah. Soon. And… and I’m sorry again.”

“I’m not,” Maggie hesitates before taking Alex’s bare hand and kissing her knuckles lightly, setting off back on her way with a quick wink and a smile.

Three snowballs hit Alex in the stomach right in a row as she watches Maggie walk away, followed by the bodies of her three siblings tackling her into the snowy ground.

“You should miss me more often, Danvers!” Winn laughs, and Maggie looks over her shoulder at the commotion behind her as she walks, a broad grin on her face.

“Yeah,” Alex smiles from ear to ear. “I definitely should.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> anonymous asked:
> 
> Ruby buying J’onn an ugly Christmas sweater that says “Best Grandpa” And it lights up and plays music when you hug him and he pretends to be flustered by it and acts all grumpy but you know he wears the damn thing to their Christmaskah Party at the DEO and growls every time Winn attempts to hug him.

Every year, she gets her mom an ugly Christmas sweater.

More specifically, every year, Sam watches her daughter squeal in delight or – lately – try to stifle a giggle behind her fist when she passes the perfect ugly Christmas sweater for her mom. Sam will act like she’s seen nothing, like she’s noticed nothing, but she’ll slip her daughter the money so she can buy it on her own.

Not because Sam particularly wants a massive collection of ugly Christmas sweaters. But because it tickles Ruby so much, because it makes them both laugh so hard, and because it’s one of their traditions, and if they can’t hold onto those, what can they hold on to?

It happens again this year – Ruby pausing on their Christmas shopping near an ugly Christmas sweater – and Sam averts her eyes as she grins and digs into her wallet.

“I actually want your opinion on this one, Mom,” Ruby tells her, and if Sam is momentarily confused, it vanishes when she looks down to see a sweater decked out with reindeer and scarf-wearing penguins, with the words “Best Grandpa” written in bold white print across the chest.

“I haven’t quite aged that much, sweetheart,” she teases, even as her eyes fill with tears, because she’s pretty sure she knows where Ruby is going with this.

“It’s not for you, Mom,” Ruby explains as though she’s the adult and Sam is the child. “It’s for J’onn.”

Which is how J’onn winds up with two ugly holiday sweaters this year.

One, a Chanukah sweater, from Winn, James, Kara, Alex, Lena, and Maggie.

Blue and silver with dancing menorahs soaring through space, it reads “Galaxy’s Greatest Dad.”

And now, he has a Christmas version. A grandpa version.

Alex presents him with the first, a few hours before the DEO’s holiday party. She takes him into a side room, her siblings and her fiancee all trying to be subtle about watching them through the glass wall in the hallway.

“It’s from all of us,” Alex tells him as he shakes his head and tugs carefully at the wrapping.

“Alex, I – “ he begins when he sees the text, and when their eyes meet, there are tears in both of them.

“We can’t cry, not in front of everyone,” Alex teases as J’onn hugs her tight. “So just tell me quick: will you wear it?”

He looks down at the sweater, then back up at his eldest Earth daughter. Then out at the rest of his Earth children, and his Kryptonian child, all piled together, trying to look without looking. 

He blinks down tears that only Alex has ever seen him shed.

“It would be my honor,” he tells her, and she can’t help it: she cries, then.

And when Ruby presents him with the second – dragging Sam into the DEO party at the last minute with a lot of “I’m so sorry we’re late, we had last minute shopping to do” – the tears flood back to his eyes.

“I know everyone already got you a sweater,” Ruby says, gesturing to his chest as her own heart sinks, because what if he doesn’t want duplicate sweaters? What if it’s a silly idea? What if –

“But we got you one, too, and Ruby was really hoping to see you wear it today,” Sam finishes for her, and J’onn gets down on one knee to accept the gift and open it.

His heart trembles when he sees the text.

He never had the opportunity to be a grandfather before.

His entire world was slaughtered before he had the chance.

Sam puts a hand on his shoulder and Kara comes over to interlock her fingers with Sam while she presses a kiss to J’onn’s forehead. Lena puts a hand on both her girlfriends’ waists as they all watch J’onn try to swallow hundreds of years worth of grief, worth of catharsis.

“Thank you, Ruby,” he tells her, and his voice is full of gravel, but when he kisses her forehead, she shivers in happiness, because she knows, then, that he loves it.

His older children understand why he switches to wearing the grandpa sweater instead of their dad sweater – they can always try to goad him into wearing theirs again later – and all of his children, of all ages, try not to laugh as he stands there throughout the party with his arms across his chest and a stoic scowl plastered across his face, looking more like a father chaperoning a school dance than a co-worker celebrating the holidays with his colleagues.

“Papa Bear!” Winn slides toward him with a drink in his hand, and J’onn grunts and growls when he collides into him, wrapping his arms around him that much tighter as the sweater lights up and rings out Jingle Bells at the contact. “Your grandpa sweater is amazing! And musical! Just like you! Did you know that you’re amazing? And, who knows, you could be musical! We should go karaoke together sometime! Did you know that?”

“And did you know that you’ve had too much to drink, Agent Schott?” J’onn tries to keep his smile in check, but even tipsy, Winn sees through it.

“Awww, you love me,” he nudges J’onn, who doesn’t bother trying to deny it.

“Ruby really came through this year,” Kara kisses Sam’s lips softly, letting her head drop on her shoulder as they watch Winn’s antics with J’onn. 

“She always does, that kid,” Sam sighs with a smile. “I don’t know what I did to deserve her, but… there you go.”

“You’re amazing, Sam,” Lena shakes her head, kissing her temple and then, when Sam smiles and turns to face Lena, kissing her mouth. “That’s what you did. You’re absolutely amazing.”

Sam sighs again and lets herself be held by Lena on one side, Kara on the other, as they watch Adrian trying to teach James and Ruby to do the robot.

“It’ll never work, Ade, Olsen has about seven left feet!” Alex calls from across the room, where Maggie is holding her from behind and laughing, hard, at Adrian’s efforts and James and Ruby’s concentration.

“Thank you, Alex,” Maggie whispers as she kisses her neck, and Alex furrows her brow and turns her head to look at her fiancee.

“For?”

“For you. For us. For… for this. For family.”

Alex sinks back closer into Maggie’s arms, hugging her closer to her.

“Thank you for exactly the same,” she kisses her with parted lips that taste like eggnog and holiday promises.

They only separate when they hear the tinny sound of Jingle Bells starting up across the room again, because Winn – sure enough – has slid into another hug with J’onn, activating the sweater’s lights and music.

They can hear J’onn’s growl from here, but they can also see his smile.

And it’s really turning out to be a perfect, perfect Christmas.


End file.
